Take Mike Pence. First off, he showed his honourable and decent character by serving as a loyal vice-president to someone who was the exact opposite of him. There were no Pence intrigues during the Trump Administration. (By the by, Mike, I would drop references made by you to a Trump-Pence Administration. It can only hinder and tarnish you in the general. Pro-tip.)
Mr. Five Indictments with 91 felony charges stands for pretty much everything that Pence is not. That's to Pence's credit. Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and that's how it should be. However, most Trump supporters and a lot of other Republicans are missing the shifting sands that are slowly moving against Trump in a big way: in their heart of hearts, almost all the party draws the line at a potential Trump conviction. If that happens, Trump is finished, period.
The other elephant in the room is election viability: they can dream as much as they want, but Trump can't and won't beat Biden (and maybe not even Harris) in a general. He just won't.
Pence has two (forgive me, but I can't resist) TRUMP cards: first off, he followed his oath to the constitution and almost all of his rivals give him credit for that. These are the same people running against him for the nomination, and that speaks volumes and quietly shifts minds and later support in his direction.
You see, what a plurality of Americans are slowly figuring out is that Pence represents them: faith-based, honourable, decent, hard-working and compassionate. That's who the American people are, and have always been. In short, Pence is the next Reagan, short of the charisma.
The next shoe to drop will be developments in the trial processes, if not the setting of actual trial dates, long before the nomination race is over. That will finish Trump off with independents, and everyone whose even remotely sentient knows that no Republican nominee can take the presidency without at least a plurality of the independent vote. That's just how it is.
So...Mike Pence could run on a platform of "Hang Mike Pence!" and WIN. Pence showed himself to be nothing more than a genuine and true American on January 6th and that is sinking into the minds of Republicans and Republican voters. Pence is quite literally Mr. Osmosis, and it shows. As the Trump train wreck continues to grow by leaps and bounds, the party will necessarily at first at least distance itself from Trump and ultimately break those bonds, to win with someone else. And when that Aha! Moment inevitably comes, most Republicans will figure out that the Trump Antipode is the candidate for them.
That's Pence, quite conceivably, the next President of the United States. He's certainly not God's chosen candidate, but he is the finest representative of good works and dedication to duty running in this race. And that should, and will mean, something highly significant down the road. The man who, quite literally, never, ever, shirks in his responsibility to speak truth to power, not to mention fellow Republicans. That's guts for you.
[For the record, I'm Democrat-leaning since Obama.]
No comments:
Post a Comment